1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lawn edger, and more particularly, an edging attachment for a rotary lawn mower.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous innovations for lawn mower attachments have been provided in the prior art that will be described. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, however, they differ from the present invention.
A FIRST EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,951, Issued on Aug. 3, 1965, to Zick teaches an attachment for a lawn mower comprising a twisted blade having a substantially flat vertical portion, a laterally and forwardly inclined portion, and a generally horizontal tip, a mounting bracket, guide means adapted to hold said blade in vertically reciprocable relation to said bracket, and a pivotal connection between said guide means and said mounting bracket, said pivotal connection being adapted to permit said blade to swing in an arc between a lower operative position and an upper inoperative position, said mounting bracket including a vertical flange and a mounting plate normal to said flange, said guide means comprising a tube, said blade having a shaft vertically reciprocable in said tube, said tube being provided with a vertical slot and said shaft being provided with a stop pin extending into said slot, and a spring within said tube and bearing on said shaft adapted to urge said shaft downwardly in said tube.
A SECOND EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,424, Issued on Mar. 4, 1969, to Hasenbank teaches an edging blade mounted on a rotary mower forwardly of the axis of rotation of the cutting blade and lying in a plane intersecting the cutting orbit of the cutting blade, the edging member having a lower forwardly tapered blade portion with an upwardly and rearwardly inclined leading knife edge which is selectively vertically adjustable to positions below and/or above the level of the mower wheels. The inclined leading edge lifts and elevates low lying grass along the edge of a lawn and delivers it to the cutting blade of the mower in a generally upright condition for cutting by the blade.
A THIRD EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,208, Issued on Sep. 14, 1971, to Borunda teaches a lawn care apparatus, and more particularly to a combination mower/edger. Both units are driven by a single motor and can be operated either singly or in combination. The edger portion is simplified by being driven by a flexible shaft and is adapted to be positioned on either side of the mower, depending upon the convenience of the operator. Moreover, the edger may be tilted relative to the mower for a desired angle of edging, or to compensate for the slope of the ground.
A FOURTH EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,384, Issued on Sep. 12, 1972, to Patterson teaches a combined lawn mower and edger, the edger providing means for edging or trimming along driveways, walks, curbs, flower beds, trees and the like, and being readily attached to or detached from a lawn mower. The edger blade assembly of the edger is secured to one end of an edger shaft rearwardly and laterally of the wheeled carriage of the lawn mower and arranged to rotate at all times in a substantially vertical plane clear of the ground when all wheels of the carriage are in contact with the ground and the edger is in a normally non-edging position spaced from the soil. The edger blade assembly is lowered, guided and raised, as desired, from a normally non-edging position, wherein the edger blade assembly is spaced from the soil, to an edging position, wherein the edger blade assembly engages the soil, while the motor is in operation, by pivoting the carriage of the lawn mower on its rear wheels.
A FIFTH EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,949, Issued on Jun. 16, 1981, to Franks et al. teaches an elongated front to rear extending ramp or wedge member that is pivotally supported from the lower marginal edge portion of one side of a downwardly opening rotary lawn mower housing and angularly displaceable about an axis extending transversely of the housing and the wedge member between an operative forwardly and downwardly inclined position and a raised horizontal position. The wedge member, when in the forwardly and downwardly inclined operative position and moving along a marginal edge of the lawn area being cut, is operative to slide beneath and upwardly straightened blades of grass lying over a curb, walk, or driveway bordering the aforementioned marginal edge so that the raised blades of grass may be cut by the blade of the rotary mower. A Bowden cable is operatively connected between the wedge member and the rotary mower housing and may be remotely operated to swing the wedge member between the raised inoperative position and the lowered operative position. The wedge member underlies the adjacent periphery of the circular path through which the outer peripheral portions of the rotary blade swing and includes a forward edge inner side depending flange which may engage and be guided along a curb, walk or driveway structure.
A SIXTH EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,823, Issued on Jan. 19, 1993, to Pace teaches a motor-powered mulching mower and edger apparatus with dual rotary mower blades, a mower deck and a side-mounted edger attachment adapted by a clutch mechanism for simultaneous operation therewith. An adjustable mulching control valve mounted at the inlet of a discharge chute from the deck allows variation of the proportions of mulching to clippings bagging in the range of zero to one hundred percent during mower operation. The dual rotary blades are mounted in vertically spaced relation and select leading-angle trailing-angle relationship and are cooperable with an internal deck-mounted air stream deflector for deflecting multiple cuttings of grass clippings in an inwardly directed spiral path such that after the initial cutting, each of the clippings is disposed to at least two more cuttings to produce a finer mulch. The edger is provided with an edger blade guard which can be adjustably positioned to deflect and guide edger-produced clippings to the interior of the mower deck in an air stream which enforced the air stream generated by the mower blades and enhances vacuuming capability of the apparatus. Swivel-mounted castor wheels at the front of the mower deck and an off-set of the front wheel and real wheel nearest the edger towards the center line of the apparatus facilitates the operation of the edger in a curved path.
A SEVENTH EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,606, Issued on Mar. 12, 1996, to Baxter teaches an improved lawn mowing and edging apparatus wherein a generally conventional gasoline powered push mower or walk-behind mower is provided with an edger mounted on the front of the deck of the mower slightly outside of the track of one of the front wheels, the edger having a high speed rotating blade which lies in a vertical plane and which can be raised to an inoperative position or lowered to an operative position. The edger is provided with a very simple belt and pulley drive which causes the edger to be powered only in its lowered position and which derives its motive power from a power-take-off extending outward from the lawnmower engine substantially at right angles to the direction of travel of the mower. The power-take-off shaft is thereby substantially parallel to the shaft of the edger and a simple trouble free and safe power drive mechanism can be provided for the edger. The engine power-take-off preferably has a gear ratio to rotate at between ⅔ and ¼ of the speed of the main vertical mowing blade shaft so that a single belt drive may readily provide adequate speed increase for the effective operation of the edger; the speed of the power-take-off shaft also makes it suitable, with speed reduction, to provide a drive for the lawnmower wheels if desired. The edger is provided with pivotally yieldable blades to minimize damage upon striking of rocks or other objects; the blades may be either metal or plastic.
It is apparent now that numerous innovations for lawn mower attachments have been provided in the prior art that are adequate for various purposes. Furthermore, even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, accordingly, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.